Nfl Rookie Anticipates Great Things

November 21, 1985|By Jerry Greene of The Sentinel Staff

Whooosh! The air exploded out of the lungs of Steve Young as he did another repetition on one of those state-of-the-sadistic-arts weightlifting machines. His mind was on a holiday, relaxing in the peaceful world of continuous physical exertion.

Then his life turned onto a new path.

''Steve, take a break for a second, okay?''

Leeman Bennett, coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, had come looking for Young early on a nearly deserted Monday morning at One Buccaneer Place. Most of the other Buccaneers still were recovering from the shock of the previous day's 62-28 beating by the New York Jets. Young had been the only healthy Buc that hadn't been fed to the Jets.

''Steve, we have decided to start you this week, uh, for a lot of reasons,'' Bennett said. ''I want you to know that I don't expect any more out of you than you are ready to give. You don't have to think of yourself as a savior.

''Just be yourself -- and win a game for us.''

The words Steve Young had waited 11 weeks to hear.

Another opening to another show. Steve Young, 24, will start at quarterback Sunday for the Bucs against the Detroit Lions. It will be his first appearance in the National Football League and the first indication to America if Young, indeed, can be a football savior for a floundering franchise.

And nobody in America is more excited about discovering how it is going to work out than Young.

''I really want to be a great quarterback,'' Young said Wednesday, ''and this is the first stepping stone.''

Few of us can understand what it is to be an NFL quarterback. But all of us remember the rush of adrenalin at those turning points in our lives. The notice that you got the scholarship. The proposal of marriage. Or, in the

old days, the letter from Uncle Sam that began with ''Greetings . . . '' These are the moments when we know that, one way or another, our lives will never be the same.

Young felt that Monday morning as he listened to Bennett. ''My first thought? I didn't have a thought -- just the tingly feeling of excitement. Then my thoughts were about how great a challenge this is going to be. I have great expectations for myself.''

So do the Bucs, who would follow anybody to victory now. So does Bennett, who desperately needs someone to salvage the end of his first year as Bucs' coach. So does Hugh Culverhouse, who is paying Young an average of between $750,000 and $1 million a year for six years to save the franchise. And so do the Bucs' fans, who haven't cheered since Doug Williams left three years ago. Young knows the score.

''More than any other time in my career,'' he said, ''this is a time when I will have to understand my capabilities. I can't try to do too much on my own -- but I have to walk that cutting edge where my abilities are extended to their fullest.

''I have got to win.''

Few remember that Young was a starter at Brigham Young University for just two years. Before then, he stood on the sideline and watched Jim McMahon play quarterback for the Mormon Cougars. The irony did not escape Young earlier this season when he imitated a mirror-image of McMahon (Young is left- handed) on the Bucs scout team in training for Tampa Bay's two defeats to the Bears.

''I guess I've gone full cycle,'' Young said at the time. Despite his youth, Young's career already has gone through a series of cycles.

He set or tied 13 NCAA passing records in just two seasons at Brigham Young. As a senior he threw for 3,902 yards and 33 touchdowns with just 10 interceptions. In the 1983 Heisman Trophy balloting, he finished second to Nebraska running back Mike Rozier.

Then Young created some of the biggest headlines in pro football history without throwing a pass. Instead he threw a curve at the NFL and the cocky Cincinnati Bengals by bypassing the Bengals' modest contract offers to sign an unprecedented 43-year, $40 million contract with the Los Angeles Express of the USFL.

As we know now, Young never saw $40 million -- and never would have lived 43 years if he had kept playing for the Express. This spring he was sacked 54 times during a 3-15 season for what was then known as the Los Angeles Depress. Young's last USFL game was played in Orlando. An ownerless team that already has fired its coaching staff, the Express barely had enough personnel to be called a team. In the second half, Young was sent in to play halfback, the closing indignity of that chapter in his life.

Now Young is excited about returning to Orlando -- on Dec. 28 to watch Brigham Young play in the Citrus Bowl. But he is far more excited about the five Sundays between now and then.

After netting about $6 million from the USFL in two years, Young paid back $750,000 to get out of that league and into the NFL. He didn't choose Tampa (the Bucs got his NFL rights with the first pick in a special draft of USFL personnel) but says he always is happy no matter where he is. ''I even like Cleveland,'' he said.